Tottenham Hotspur defender Kevin Wimmer has had to wait patiently for his chances since arriving at White Hart Lane in the summer, with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen forming a seemingly unbreakable partnership at the back.

But whenever the Austrian has been called on he has impressed, and his performance in the FA Cup third round replay away to Leicester City on Wednesday spoke volumes about his ability and his confidence.

Leicester have been flying high in the Premier League this season and recently overcame Tottenham 1-0 in that competition.

Spurs also had to rely on a late Harry Kane penalty to keep them in the tie earlier this month, so a trip to the King Power Stadium was not going to be easy.

However, Tottenham sealed a comfortable 2-0 victory and Wimmer put in arguably his best performance to date.

The 23-year-old is unlikely to break up the partnership of Vertonghen and Alderweireld in the league any time soon, but he has now proved categorically that he will excel when called upon.

Against Arsenal in the Capital One Cup he looked solid despite playing alongside Federico Fazio, who had a shocker against the Gunners. He also impressed in Europa League matches against FK Qarabag and AS Monaco before stepping up a gear in the two recent cup games against the Foxes, regularly having to get used to different centre-back partners.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino will know the importance of having additional defenders ready to step in and do a job, and in Wimmer he has certainly found one.

Vincent Ralph

After graduating with a degree in English Literature, Vincent completed a NCTJ-accredited qualification in newspaper and magazine journalism in 2005. Shortly after, in a somewhat leftfield move, he began working at a secondary school in Kent. After eight years – the last four of which were spent as Head of Sixth Form – he began to write full-time, combining his love of football with his passion for the written word.Alongside his work for HITC Sport, he also writes film reviews for HITC Lifestyle… along with the odd music interview when fate allows.